Petaluma

So Petaluma is a pretty amazing place. It has repeatedly been ranked among the top 100 best places to live by various groups. The neighborhoods are all really nice. The downtown area has retained all its original architecture and is a very busy place. In fact, one block downtown was restored with original lampposts and signs specifically so it could continue to be used in period movies. Many movies have been filmed right in town here. They include: American Graffiti (1973), Heroes (1977), Cujo (1983), Explorers (1985), Howard the Duck (1986), Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), Basic Instinct (1992), Merlin's Shop of Mystic Wonder (1996), Phenomenon (1996), Max, 13 (1997), Inventing the Abbotts (1997), Flubber (1997), Lolita (1997), Videoplasty (1998), Pleasantville (1998), Mumford (1999), The Hamiltons (2005), and Molotov Alva (2007).

The town is only a few miles across, and it turns into farmland immediately without the usual sprawl. One mile from our house is beautiful rolling pasture with scenic curvy roads. It's a road biker's paradise. People still refer to Petaluma as a "cow town." There are a lot of cow and sheep farms. Vineyards are everywhere. Really, everywhere. I'm pretty sure everyone just gets one when they move here. We haven't gotten ours yet.

Here is the weather for this week. It is the same as it has been every week so far. I actually heard a weather person say on the news, "Well, it's gonna be warm today with a high of 68, but we'll be cooling down next week into the mid 60's." So prepare yourself for the cold front I guess.


It is sunny all the time. Even during the day or two we had some rain, the clouds parted for some sun during the day. What a difference it makes to have sun in the winter.

There are farmer's markets year round here. And buying local is easy. We can recycle most everything in a big bin across the parking lot, including plastics 1-7, fabrics like old clothes and rags, and plastic bags. We see the sun set every night over the mountains our apartment faces.

Jay walks to work. We take Blue to the dog park right next to the apartment, and take Anja on the two mile loop around the wetlands. Part of the wetland system is a tidal marsh which rises and falls with the tides due to its direct connection with the bay. Part of the day it is a mud flat, part of the day it is open water. Yesterday I saw a kite dive after something in the grass out there. But Jay wins because he saw an otter on his walk home from work.

And because it's funny, here's Anja playing peek a boo behind her stroller wheel:

Practicing

Anja practicing. And Blue says, "Pay attention to me!"

boxes

We are still partly living out of boxes, but we have all the basics now. Even with all the boxes there is still a lot more room for Anja to play than there was at our last place.


Anja's walking is really progressing quickly. She can walk and stop without falling now, and while carrying large things. She does still crash into things sometimes.


She has adjusted well to the move, and is even on a very regular nap schedule. She has lately been taking two naps a day, each one two hours long! This is the kid who often wouldn't nap at all a few months ago.

Saturday

Today we took a three hour drive north up the coast and saw even more amazing things. We drove through tiny towns in thick mature redwood forest and through this little town on a hillside that overlooks the Russian River where it empties into the ocean. Click on the photo to see notes showing where things are, including harbor seals, which are a first for me.



Anja was walking a lot today. She's always so active. Here she is crawling to her rattley bird toys and birdhouse. Watch her sort through them until she finds the one that has knotted rope feet that she likes to carry in her mouth:

Starting to walk

Anja started taking some independent steps yesterday, and now it's all she wants to do. She's been taking 5 or 6 steps at a time before falling. She really seems to think it's fun.


She is so strong. She tries to climb on everything before we stop her. Here she is jumping like a frog:


She also thought the sound "brrring" was really funny for some reason.

Weekend

How many seals did you see this weekend? We also saw a whale, and pelicans, and redwoods, and Tule Elk. The last seven days have set record highs, but we've enjoyed to 70 degree sunny weather.


The Petaluma area is absolutely amazing. So far Point Reyes National Seashore is my favorite place. It's 18 miles from our place to the entrance, and the twisty, hilly drive through green mountains and pastures would be a worthwhile trip by itself. But the park is breathtaking. It's 20 miles from the entrance to the farthest point, the lighthouse, which has spectacular views. There are also beaches on protected bays, and beaches on the open ocean, and rolling farmland with 150yr old dairy farms, and rocky cliffs.

Here's a photo of the north end of the park. See that pointy rock in the distance? There are people climbing up that rock.


Here is some of the pasture land on the inland part of Point Reyes.


This is Drake's Beach, at the southern end of the park. It's part of a secluded bay so the waves are pretty tame, but big for those of us accustomed to Great Lakes waters. These tall cliffs overlook the beach. If you look closely, you can see Mom and Dad walking near the base of the cliffs. It's also where a few male elephant seals were basking.




This is Point Reyes Beach South. It's on the west side and faces open ocean. The waves are huge and the surf is loud. One guidebook warns to "never turn your back on the ocean" here, because a big wave could come along at any time. This is where we saw a couple of whale spouts, and Jay and I saw the back of one whale crest above the waves.




Anja needs to grow some hair or learn to wear a hat with all the sun out here.


Today we went to John Muir National Monument, a small national park not far from here. We walked a couple of miles through some cool (in temperature) redwood forests. My pictures weren't so great, but here are a couple. Anja managed a short nap in the carrier, which is not as common as it once was. She does best with two naps a day, and a nap in the carrier or the car doesn't seem to be the same as a nap at home like it used to be.


Anja liked the trees.

Point Reyes

Today we are going to Point Reyes for the day. I'm hoping to see some sea lions, and maybe whales if we're lucky. Weather for today is 68 and sunny. Here's a picture taken at sunset in the park behind our place:

We live here

The first two nights at our new place we heard a great horned owl calling. We have pelicans in the marsh behind our house. This is where we watched the sunset Wednesday night.

We have internets again

We are moved in and the kids are doing well. We got a first floor apartment (for Blue, who doesn't do stairs so well anymore) facing south, so we get great sun all day.




Here's Mom with Anja on our patio the night we were moving in.


Our backyard is a wildlife sanctuary and marsh. This is the path Jay walks on when he goes to work (he works less than a mile away). He calls this his commute. Today he brought the camera to work so he could take pictures on his commute.


Here's a picture from across the marsh facing our apartment. The raised green area is a dog park, and the tree line is the edge of our parking lot.


Here's the marina next to the marsh. Mom and Dad have been staying in the Sheraton here overlooking the marina, walking distance from our apartment. Tonight they will stay with us.

Day 5

Grand Canyon was very cool, we spent the day there today. Weather was brisk, in the 40's, but we had some nice sunny weather so it was very pleasant. Tomorrow we arrive in southern California and will be staying near Barstow.




We ate at a lodge inside the park. Anja is great in restaurants.

Day 4 - Grand Canyon and a day off!

Day 3 was good, pretty uneventful. We stayed in Albuquerque, NM. Today is day 4, and we arrived at the Grand Canyon around 4:00 today. The drive today was beautiful, although I didn't get a lot of pictures of it. I tried to take a few through the windshield, but they are just okay. Northern New Mexico and Arizona are very mountainous and incredibly scenic.

We drove through a lot of red rocks, black mountains, washed out gulleys, and snowy hillsides.

Anja is still doing very well on the drive. Amazingly well, actually. My mom and I stop every two hours for her, and haven't really needed to stop more often than that. Our schedule is breakfast, drive two hours, short break, drive two hours, lunch (1-1.5 hours), drive two hours, short break, drive two hours, done for the day! We have each been driving at our own pace, and meeting up for breaks when we can. Yesterday and the day before all three of us met up for lunch. Today just our car and Jay met up. Dad ends up being last usually because of the trailer. We stop because of Anja, but Jay has to stop because of Blue, so it varies who is in front. By the time we check in at a hotel, unload and head out for dinner, it's usually Anja's bedtime, so Jay left the restaurant early the last two nights to put her to bed. Tonight we are eating in. Normally we can keep her up a little past her bedtime, but it's too much stress to add to all of the traveling. Plus we have been in three times zones in the last four days, which doesn't help.

BUT, tomorrow is a day off for us. We are staying at a hotel one mile from the Grand Canyon both tonight and tomorrow night, so we can take it easy tomorrow. Everyone is looking forward to a no-driving day. Dad was actually really sick the day we started driving and is starting to feel better now. Mom started showing symptoms of the virus yesterday and is trying to fight it off. We are probably all in line to catch it, so a no stress day of checking out the canyon will be good for us. We managed to get to the canyon about an hour before sunset today to get a sneak preview of tomorrow. This is a great time of year to visit since it isn't very busy.





I was walking Blue, and some people thought she was so cute they wanted their picture taken with her. Then Jay was carrying Anja, and some girls wanted to take her picture. Nobody requested to have their picture taken with us.



Jay thought Anja might like to use the binoculars to look down the canyon

Oklahoma City

Day two and everything is going great. Weather is good and haven't hit any unreasonable traffic. I haven't taken any good photos yet because I'm always driving, but maybe tomorrow I'll get some nicer photos. Meanwhile, here are some lovely photos from a Comfort Inn:

Anja chewing on cell phone:


Anja reading paper:

Day 0

We're all packed, and with no room to spare. We really had to be creative to get everything in, we didn't leave any space empty. Actually, Jay packed almost everything into the trailer himself, so by "we" I mean "Jay". Anja helped me pack remaining bits into boxes while Jay loaded. I really love this baby carrier. I finally decided to try it on the back since Anja's big enough now, and she took two, one-hour naps in it on Saturday:


Everything we own fit into this trailer, which was surprisingly big inside, plus a few things into the cars and truck:


Today our friend Leah came over and watched Anja while we packed the rest and cleaned. Anja's bed was already packed, but she still took a pretty long nap:


The house is empty, cleaned, and ready for sale now. We leave in the morning for our first traveling day. We are hoping to follow the following schedule:

Monday: St Louis
Tuesday: Oklahoma City
Wednesday: Albuquerque
Thursday: Grand Canyon National Park
Friday: Grand Canyon National Park
Saturday: Barstow, CA
Sunday: Petaluma
Monday: Find lovely apartment with room for visitors and move in immediately

We built in a full day at the Grand Canyon, and the two days on either side of it are shorter days. The weather looks pretty good for the next few days where we're going. I'm so happy to finally be starting out!

So far so good

So far we seem to have enough space for everything. Today we are giving away some more things via Craigslist, tomorrow is the big Goodwill run for anything that is left, and then we clean the house before leaving Monday. Tonight we are also having a going-away party at our friend Chris's place.

Meanwhile, watch the following videos. But only watch it if you can handle the cuteness. The first is a video of Anja's reaction when Jay gets home, and the second is me playing peek a boo with Anja:

Doubt is creeping in...

I'm *pretty* sure everything will fit into the trailer. As long as we pack very carefully (like a tetris game) and use all the space in our two cars and my parents' truck. And make a few more trips to Goodwill. My parents are coming tonight and we are getting the trailer tomorrow morning and it all begins. I'm looking forward to when we actually leave Monday. I have a lot of goodbyes to make between now and then, and it will be sad to leave our little house where we lived so cheaply and had so much fun. But once the trip starts I know it will be a fun adventure in itself.

Anja doesn't really seem to care at all about the packing. It just means we have more visitors than usual and there is a lot more stuff to play with (boxes, wrapping material, etc). She's having fun:


And she did take some time to watch football yesterday with Dad:


I will try to update the blog each night on our drive to California, but I can't make any promises. If we have internet, I will at least put up a few pictures since it only takes a minute or two. I'll try to post our tentative itinerary before we leave for anyone who wants to follow our progress. We are driving a south route to avoid the worst of the mountain snow, but we may still hit some bad weather. We are hoping to stop by the Grand Canyon on our way out since we are passing right by it, but it will depend on the road conditions when we get there.